EXCLUSIVE: Tom's in too deep! British Swimming chief accuses Daley of 'putting cart before horse' with TV show Splash!

ITV's woeful new peaktime Saturday night reality show Splash! has re-ignited anxieties in British Swimming about Tom Daley's commercial commitments away from diving.

Olympic bronze medallist Daley was heavily criticised before London 2012 for not concentrating enough on his sport.

Now British Swimming chief executive David Sparkes has raised concerns over 18-year-old Daley's role as a mentor for the celebrity divers in Splash!

Scroll down for video

Belly-flop: Tom Daley has been criticised by the chief of British Swimming for his part in TV show Splash!

Slated: British Swimming chief David Sparkes (left) said he was concerned Daley was not paying enough attention to his diving career by appearing on television

Sparkes said: 'Tom is an incredibly talented young man, but he's yet to achieve his full potential and it's only going to get harder to achieve that Olympic gold medal as he gets older.

'You can rest assured the next Chinese diving superstar will not have such distractions from training.

'He should look at the example of skaters Torvill and Dean who waited until the end of their competitive careers before doing such programmes. I'm concerned Tom is putting the cart before the horse and I've expressed those concerns to his agent.'

British Diving performance director Alexei Evangulov had warned last February that Daley faced missing out on an Olympic medal unless he reduced his media and sponsorship work.

He said: 'If I had power over this, I would restrict it. If you look at the Chinese, they work three times harder. That's the only secret. Just work hard.'

Mentor: Daley sat beside the pool applauding his students as they dived in

Making a Splash! Vernon Kay and Gabby Logan co-host the television programme

All smiles: Daley (right) was accused of 'putting the cart before the horse' in his media appearances

TV'S BIGGEST BELLY-FLOP?

However, Daley's camp say British Swimming knew about Splash! in advance and that the programme is giving diving much-needed exposure while not affecting Daley's training schedule.

Agent Jamie Cunningham said: 'Whatever people think about the show, Tom has come across incredibly well. We would only agree to such an undertaking at a quiet time of the year.

'Tom is fully on course to perform at his best at the world championships in the summer having delivered at the Olympic Games and the world juniors that followed, when he helped out British Swimming by competing.'

Cringe-making: Sugababe Jade Ewen (left) and Omid Djalili take the plunge on the show

Oh dear: The likes of Helen Lederer are taught to dive by Daley in the ITV show

The awful Splash! continues until the
first week of February but Cunningham says Daley only has to appear on
the Saturday - his day off from training - and another half-day a week.

The
show consists of a format in which Daley
mentors five celebrities who dive, live on TV, before a judging panel.

The likes of Sugababe Jade Ewen, Helen Lederer and comedian Omid Djalili take the plunge - badly - and are judged by a panel which bizarrely consists of comedian Jo Brand.

Although the celebrities were said to
have received weeks of training from Olympian Daley, all of them were
less than impressive in their attempts to emulate their teacher.